Resource allocation signaling for slot aggregation

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a method of operating a network node in a Radio Access Network. The method includes transmitting a downlink control information message, the downlink control information message having a slot allocation indication and a symbol allocation indication. The slot allocation indication indicates a slot aggregation having a plurality of slots being allocated for communication to at least one user equipment, wherein each slot com includes prises a plurality of symbols. The symbol allocation indication indicates allocation of symbols to at least one channel according to an allocation pattern for two or more of the plurality of slots. The disclosure also pertains to related methods and devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/333,773, filed Mar. 15, 2019 entitled “RESOURCE ALLOCATION SIGNALINGFOR SLOT AGGREGATION,” which is a Submission Under 35 U.S.C. S 371 forU.S. National Stage Patent Application No. PCT/SE2017/050288, filed Mar.24, 2017 entitled “RESOURCE ALLOCATION SIGNALING FOR SLOT AGGREGATION,”the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure pertains to wireless communication technology, inparticular in the context of 5G telecommunication, e.g. New Radio (NR)or LTE Evolution.

BACKGROUND

Next to carrier aggregation, in which a plurality of carriers areaggregated or joined together in frequency domain, current developmentof wireless communication technology also goes into the direction ofaggregating transmission timing structures in time domain.

SUMMARY

It is an object of this disclosure to provide approaches allowingefficient signaling in the context of slot aggregation as a form oftransmission timing structure aggregation, in particular signaling withlimited overhead.

The approaches described herein are particularly useful in the contextof NR Radio Access Technology/Networks (NR RAT/RAN). Thus, a networknode may in particular a gNB (or eNB in some cases).

Accordingly, there is disclosed a method of operating a network node ina Radio Access Network. The method comprises transmitting a downlinkcontrol information message, the downlink control information messagecomprising a slot allocation indication and a symbol allocationindication. The slot allocation indication indicates a slot aggregationcomprising a plurality of slots being allocated for communication to atleast one user equipment, wherein each slot comprises a plurality ofsymbols. The symbol allocation indication indicates allocation ofsymbols to at least one channel according to an allocation pattern fortwo or more of the plurality of slots.

Also, there is disclosed a network node for a Radio Access Network. Thenetwork node is adapted for transmitting a downlink control informationmessage, the downlink control information message comprising a slotallocation indication and a symbol allocation indication. The slotallocation indication indicates a slot aggregation comprising aplurality of slots being allocated for communication to at least oneuser equipment, wherein each slot comprises a plurality of symbols. Thesymbol allocation indication indicates allocation of symbols to at leastone channel according to an allocation pattern for two or more of theplurality of slots. The network node may comprise, and/or be adapted forutilising, processing circuitry and/or radio circuitry, in particular atransmitter, for such transmitting. Alternatively, or additionally, thenetwork node may comprise a corresponding transmitting module.

A method of operating a user equipment, UE, in a Radio Access Networkmay be considered. The method comprises communicating utilising a slotaggregation based on a received downlink control information message,the downlink control information message comprising a slot allocationindication and a symbol allocation indication. The slot allocationindication indicates a slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slotsbeing allocated for communication to the user equipment, wherein eachslot comprises a plurality of symbols. The symbol allocation indicationindicates allocation of symbols to at least one channel according to anallocation pattern for two or more of the plurality of slots.

In addition, a user equipment for a Radio Access Network is described.The user equipment is adapted for communicating utilising a slotaggregation based on a received downlink control information message,the downlink control information message comprising a slot allocationindication and a symbol allocation indication. The slot allocationindication indicates a slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slotsbeing allocated for communication to the user equipment, wherein eachslot comprises a plurality of symbols. The symbol allocation indicationindicates allocation of symbols to at least one channel according to anallocation pattern for two or more of the plurality of slots. The UE maycomprise, and/or be adapted for utilising, processing circuitry and/orradio circuitry, in particular a transmitter and/or receiver and/orreceiver, for such communicating. Alternatively, or additionally, the UEmay comprise a corresponding communicating module.

The slot allocation indication may comprise a bit pattern indicating thenumber of slots being aggregated and/or a slot location indication, theslot location indication indicating the location of a reference slot ofthe slot aggregation. There may be a unique or 1-1 mapping of slotaggregation length (number of slots in the aggregation) and/or thereference slot location to the bit pattern, e.g. according to a table,which may be predefined or configured.

A slot location may generally pertain to an arrangement in time domainand/or relative to a timing or timing structure. A slot location mayindicate where in time a slot is located, e.g. by providing an absoluteslot number or a slot number relative to another slot, e.g. a slot inwhich the downlink control information is received. The reference slotmay be a slot of the slot aggregation, based on whose location thelocation of the slot aggregation may be determined or be fixed. Thereference slot may in particular be the first slot of the slotaggregation, or the last slot of the slot aggregation. Based on thereference slot and the number of slots in the slot aggregation the timeinterval covered by the slot aggregation may be defined or determined.

A bit pattern may generally comprise one or more bits, in particular 2,3 or 4 bits. It may generally be considered that the symbol allocationindication comprises of 3 bits, which may be mapped to allocationpatterns, e.g. represented by starting symbol and/or ending symboland/or length. The slot allocation indication may comprise of 3 bits,which may be mapped to reference slot locations and/or number of slotsin an aggregation.

The symbol allocation indication may comprise a bit pattern, the bitpattern indicating the allocation pattern and/or the channel or channelsthe symbols are allocated to.

The (allocation) pattern may indicate or represent a starting symboland/or ending symbol and/or number of symbols allocated to a specificchannel.

In some variants, the allocation pattern may indicate or include a guardperiod between symbols of the allocation pattern allocated to a downlinkchannel and symbols of the pattern allocated to an uplink channel,and/or vice versa. A guard period may comprise and/or extend over one ormore symbol time lengths. A guard period may be associated to notransmission or reception being scheduled.

The downlink control information message may comprise one or moredeviation indications, a deviation indication generally indicating adeviation from the pattern for one or more slots. Alternatively, oradditionally, the downlink control information message may indicatefrequency resource allocation, e.g. subcarrier range, for one or more,in particular for all, slots of the slot aggregation. The frequencyresource allocation may be indicated by a frequency allocationindication, and/or may be the same for more than one, in particular forall, slots of the slot aggregate. In the latter case, only oneindication may be needed and/or provided. Also alternatively, oradditionally, the downlink control information message may comprise afrequency hopping indication, which may indicate a frequency hoppingscheme for the allocated channels e.g. between different slots of theslot aggregation, and/or within individual slots.

Alternatively, or additionally, there may be considered that the networknode is adapted for, and/or the method of operating the network nodecomprises, transmitting a second message, e.g. a downlink controlinformation message and/or other configuration message (messagecomprising configuration data), the second message comprising one ormore deviation indications. Communicating utilising the slot aggregationmay be based also on the second message. Accordingly, greaterflexibility for deviations from the pattern may be provided, whilelimiting the overhead of the downlink control information message. Thesecond message, and/or the downlink control message, may be valid forthe duration of the slot aggregation (dynamic), or valid for a pluralityof such durations (semi-static), e.g. provided in RRC signaling.

Allocating a slot aggregation for communication may pertain toallocating resources associated to the slots of the aggregation forcommunication. The resources may be time-frequency resources associatedto, and/or arranged or located within, the time interval defined by theslot aggregations, respectively associated to the symbol time intervalsof the symbols of the slot aggregation, which comprise the symbols ofthe slots of the aggregation. Allocating may generally compriseindicating, e.g. to a user equipment, which symbols and/or resources touse for which king of communication, e.g. transmitting or receiving,and/or on which channel.

An allocation pattern may generally indicate at least one channel thatis allocated to one or more symbols (or vice versa, as the allocationmay represent a unique or 1-1 mapping). However, in some cases, theremay be allocated more than one channel to a symbol, e.g. a control and adata channel. In this case, the channels may be multiplexed, inparticular in frequency. Such channels may represent the same directionof communication, e.g. transmitting or receiving. The allocation patternmay indicate the frequency resource/s allocated to the channel/s, orsuch may be implicitly indicated, e.g. according to a configuration orpredefinition or rule. An allocation pattern may allocate symbols fortwo or more slots such that the pattern of symbols repeats for eachslot. For example, the same channel/s may be allocated to symbols(respectively the associated resources) with the same number inside eachslot. It may be assumed that the symbols in a slot may be numbered bysuccessive integers, e.g. from 0 to 6 or 0 to 13, or 1 to 7 or 1 to 14,depending on the total number of symbols in a slot. The numbering may beanalogous between slots with the same number of symbols. Successivelynumbered symbols may be neighboring to each other in time domain, with acommon time border.

The downlink control information message may allocate and/or schedulethe slot aggregation, such that resources of the slot aggregation areallocated for communication.

A slot may comprise a plurality of symbols, in particular 7 or 14symbols. However, a slot may be implemented as a mini-slot with fewersymbols than a full slot in some variants. It may be considered that theslots of the slot aggregation have the same number of symbols, and/orthat the slots of the slot aggregation have the same durations(extension in time domain). However, there may be considered variants inwhich different slot durations, or slots with different number ofsymbols, are aggregated into a slot aggregation. In this context it maybe considered that an allocation pattern only pertains to slots havingthe same duration or the same number of symbols, to limited signalingoverhead. A slot aggregation may comprise two or more slots, inparticular 2, 3 or 4, or an even number of slots.

Allocating symbols to at least one channel may comprise indicating oneor more channels on which to communicate. A channel may be an uplink ordownlink or sidelink channel. In particular, a channel may be a physicalchannel. Examples of channels that may be allocated comprise PUCCH,PUSCH, PDSCH, PDCCH. A channel may be a control channel, e.g. PUCCH orPDCCH, or a data channel, e.g. PUSCH or PDSCH. A control channel, inparticular a downlink control channel, may be arranged or allocated in acontrol region, which may cover one or more symbols of a slot of theslot aggregation, e.g. at the beginning of the slot. It may beconsidered that an uplink control region is allocated an uplink controlchannel. An allocation pattern may for example be continuous in timedomain and/or frequency domain for a time interval covering one or moresymbols and/or a frequency interval covering one or more subcarriers.Such a pattern may appear rectangular in a time/frequency diagramrepresentation. The symbol allocation indication may indicate thelocation and/or extension of such a pattern in time domain, e.g. byindicating a starting and ending symbol, and/or a starting or ending(also referred to as stop) symbol and a duration (e.g., in number ofsymbols) or length. A symbol may in particular be an OFDM (OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing) symbol, e.g. in NR downlink, or a OFDMA(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) or SC-FDMA (SingleCarrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) symbol in uplink orsidelink.

Communicating utilising a slot aggregation may comprise transmittingand/or receiving on the channels allocated according to the allocationpattern.

The slots of a slot aggregation may be arranged in time such they form acontinuous time interval covered by the symbols time intervals of thesymbols of the slots.

Generally, to a symbol there may be associated a symbol time interval,and a frequency range, e.g. a number of subcarrier. For ease ofreference, it may be referred to a symbol even if only the time domainextension (symbol time interval) is referred to. In the context ofresources or allocation, an extension of a symbol into the frequencydomain may be assumed. The symbols or slots of a slot aggregation maycomprise the same extension in frequency domain, e.g. pertain to thesame subcarriers or carriers. The extension in frequency domain may becontinuous.

An allocation pattern pertaining to a plurality of slots may beconsidered to comprise an allocation (sub-)pattern valid for one slot,which is repeated in the other slots of the plurality of slots.

It should be noted that in some variants, the slot allocation indicationand the symbol allocation indication pertain to allocation in timedomain, pertaining to symbols or slots, respectively their associatedtime intervals. Frequency allocation may be implicitly indicated, orexplicitly with a corresponding frequency allocation indication in thedownlink control information message.

A downlink control information message may comprise downlink controlinformation, in particular pertaining to scheduling and/or allocation,for uplink and/or downlink and/or sidelink communication.

A program product comprising instructions causing processing circuitryto control and/or perform any one of the methods described herein isalso disclosed.

Moreover, there is disclosed a carrier medium arrangement carryingand/or storing a program product as disclosed herein.

A transmission timing structure may generally comprise a (e.g.,pre-defined and/or configured) number of symbols or symbol timeintervals. A slot may be considered a representation or implementationof a transmission timing structure, and the terms may be interchanged inthe context of this disclosure. A transmission timing structure maydefine a time interval. To a transmission timing structure and/or slotthere may associated frequency resources, such that a slot may representtime/frequency resources, based on a time interval of the slot. A slotaggregation may comprise a plurality of slots scheduled with a singledownlink control information message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are provided to illustrate concepts and approachesdescribed herein, and are not intended to limit their scope. Thedrawings comprise:

FIGS. 1 to 4, showing exemplary variants of slots for TDD;

FIGS. 5 to 10, showing examples of slot aggregations;

FIG. 11, showing an example of DL slot aggregation with an allocationpattern;

FIG. 12, showing an example of UL slot aggregation with an allocationpattern;

FIG. 13, showing an example of slot aggregation with holes;

FIG. 14, showing an example of slot aggregation with deviationindication;

FIG. 15, showing an exemplary user equipment;

FIG. 16, showing an exemplary network node;

FIG. 17, showing an exemplary diagram of a method of operating a userequipment;

FIG. 18, showing an exemplary user equipment;

FIG. 19, showing an exemplary diagram of a method of operating a networknode; and

FIG. 20, showing an exemplary network node.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

NR supports a very flexible frame structure. A slot can be of length 7or 14 OFDM symbols. In TDD, one slot interval can either contain DL(Downlink) only, UL (Uplink) only, or both UL and DL transmissions. FIG.1 graphically shows a DL-only slot, FIG. 2 an UL-only slot, FIG. 3 aDL-heavy slot with UL in the end, and FIG. 4 an UL-heavy slot with DL inthe beginning. FIGS. 1 to 4 show four types of slot for TDD. In theseexamples, the slot length is N_slot=14. It should be noted that theconcepts and approaches described herein are only illustrated in thecontext of TDD, but are equally applicable to Frequency Division Duplex(FDD). Moreover, the slot duration may vary depending on frequency ornumerology used, as the subcarrier spacing may depend on either, suchthat the symbol time interval associated to a symbol may be differentfor different carrier frequencies and/or numerologies. Accordingly, forequal number of symbols in a slot, slot duration may vary. It may beconsidered that the slots described herein pertain to the samenumerology and/or subcarrier spacing and/or carrier, such that thesymbols may have the same symbol time interval (symbol duration).

DL portions of a slot often start with a DL control region. The presenceof a DL control region and the length of the DL control region may bedynamically indicated (e.g. via DCI on PDCCH), semi-staticallyconfigured (e.g. via RRC signaling) or blindly detected by the UE.

The DL data region (PDSCH) in a slot can extend from the beginning ofthe slot until the end of the slot (DL-only slots) or stops earlier toaccommodate an UL opportunity in the end. The start of PDSCH can eitherbe the beginning of the slot or it can start within or after the controlregion. In case PDSCH starts within the control region, special care isneeded how to multiplex data and control channels (PDCCH) in the controlchannel region. If an UL opportunity exists at the end of the slotinterval, PDSCH must stop earlier to accommodate the UL transmissiontogether with DL→UL and possibly UL→DL guard times or periods, e.g. whenswitching back to DL in the next slot.

Similar to DL-heavy slots are UL-heavy slots, but for such, the DLregion (also referred to as DL for conciseness) is very short (e.g. 1 or2 symbols), followed by a guard time and an UL region (also referred toas UL). A DL region may comprise one or more symbols in which downlinktransmission (or reception thereof from the UE's point of view) isscheduled, an UL region may comprise one or more symbols in which uplinktransmission is scheduled. Analogously, there may be considered sidelinkregions, e.g. sidelink transmission regions and/or sidelink receptionregions.

The UL contains in the beginning the UL data region (PUSCH) andoptionally an UL control region in the end (PUCCH). PUSCH may stopbefore the UL control region or it may continue until the end of theslot interval. In case PUSCH continues until the end of the slot andoverlaps a symbol containing PUCCH, special care is needed how tomultiplex data and control channels (PUCCH) in the control channelregion.

Slot aggregation is discussed in the following.

To enable longer transmissions (to improve coverage), or to use fewerPDCCH transmissions (to reduce control channel overhead), it is possibleto schedule transmission units consisting of several slots. Such a unitis referred to as slot aggregation. One possibility would be to schedulePDSCH/PUSCH of each slot with its own PDCCH, however, in this case thedistinction to individually scheduling multiple slots becomes unclear.It is therefore assumed that a slot aggregate is scheduled with a singleDCI (a single message). DCI, Downlink Control Information, may beconsidered to represent more generalized downlink control information inthe context of NR.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show examples of different DL slot aggregates. As it can beseen, the symbols available for PDSCH as well as the symbol patterndepend very much on the slot aggregation format. These examples showthat PDSCH does not overlap the DL control region, however, it is alsopossible that PDSCH overlaps (partly or fully in time) with the DLcontrol region. Specifically, FIGS. 5 to 7 show examples of slotaggregation. In these examples, the slot length is N_slot=14. In FIG. 5,a DL slot is followed by a DL slot without DL control region. In FIG. 6,both aggregated slots have a DL control region. In FIG. 7, a DL slotwith control region is followed by a mixed slot with both DL controlregion and UL opportunity.

In FIGS. 8 to 10, examples for UL slot aggregation are shown. As it canbe seen, the symbols available for PUSCH as well as the symbol patterndepend very much on the slot aggregation format. FIGS. 8 to 10 inparticular show examples of UL slot aggregation. In these examples, theslot length is N_slot=14. In FIG. 8, an UL-heavy slot is followed by anUL-only slot. In FIG. 9, both slots are UL-heavy. In FIG. 10, both slotsare UL-heavy and have an UL control region in the end.

As can be seen from FIGS. 5 to 7 and FIGS. 8 to 10, a wide variety ofslot aggregation formats may be considered. The available symbols forPDSCH/PUSCH depend very much on the slot aggregation format. Since aslot aggregate is signaled with a single DCI message, the resourceallocation in particular in time domain, pertaining to allocation ofsymbols to channels, for the complete slot aggregate is contained in asingle DCI message. Given the large numbers of possibilities (of whichFIGS. 5 to 10 show just a few examples), the signaling for thetime-domain resource allocation for PDSCH/PUSCH may become very complexand require a large signaling overhead.

There are discussed approaches to reduce overhead for the signaling oftime-domain resource allocation in slot aggregation. It is proposed thatthe signaling allows in-detail definition of time-domain allocation ofPDSCH/PUSCH in a single slot based on a symbol allocation indication (inthe following called symbol allocation). At least one of flexible startposition, length, and flexible stop position may be provided. For slotaggregation, the symbol allocation is applied to multiple slots. Inaddition, also the number of scheduled slots may be signaled, utilisinga slot allocation indication (in the following called slot allocation).

The required signaling of slot aggregation is just slightly larger thanfor a single slot (the scheduled numbers of slots needs to be provided),which however will only require very few bits.

An optional extension of the approaches allows adjustments (deviations)to the repeated resource allocation, e.g. each (or at least some)scheduled slot could have an additional single bit or very fewadditional bits assigned to signal some adjustment, e.g., in form of adeviation indication.

The proposed solution reduces signaling overhead for time-domainresource allocation in slot aggregation. This reduces DCI size, whichreduces control channel load, often a bottleneck in wireless systems.With a reduced control channel overhead it is more often possible toschedule terminals avoiding the situation that data resources areavailable, but cannot be scheduled because of lacking control resources.Further, reduced DCI size also results in better control signalingcoverage and/or improved control signaling detection rate.

The time-domain resource allocation field of a DCI message for slotaggregation may comprise two parts (e.g., two fields or a joint fieldfrom which both information can be derived, and/or a two bit patterns,or one bit pattern joined from two bit patterns to a larger bitpattern), the two parts representing a symbol allocation indication anda slot allocation indication. The number of scheduled slots (in thefollowing called slot allocation) may be indicated, and details of thetime-domain resource allocation of PDSCH/PUSCH within one slot (in thefollowing called symbol allocation) may be indicated, which represent anallocation pattern. The symbol allocation specified in 2) is applied toall or at least multiple scheduled slots of the slot aggregation.

FIG. 11 shows an example for DL slot aggregation. The time-domainresource allocation field specifies that 2 slots are aggregated, andthat the PDSCH starts in symbol 1 and ends in symbol 11. The samepattern of PDSCH start and stop symbols is applied to both slots. Usingthe exemplary Table 1 and Table 2 to indicate slot allocation and symbolallocation, the example in FIG. 11 would use the entries 001 or 101 forslot allocation (Table 1, to indicate 2 aggregated slots, 001 or 101 fordifferent first slot values) and 011 for symbol allocation (Table 2,N_slot=14 assumed). As can be seen, FIG. 11 shows DL slot aggregationwith 2 slots. Each slot uses the same time-domain resource allocation.In this example, the slot length is N_slot=14.

UL slot aggregation is shown in FIG. 12, in which also two slots areaggregated. The symbol allocation specifies that symbols 3 to 13 areused in each slot for PUSCH. Using the exemplary Table 1 and Table 3 toindicate slot allocation and symbol allocation, the example in FIG. 12would use the entries 001 or 101 for slot allocation (Table 1, toindicate 2 aggregated slots, 001 or 101 for different first slot values)and 101 (Table 3, N_slot=14 assumed) for symbol allocation. For the ULslot aggregation with 2 slots in FIG. 12, each slot uses the sametime-domain resource allocation (allocation pattern). In this examplethe slot length is N_slot=14.

Slot allocation is discussed in more detail in the following.

The field indicating how many slots are scheduled may also indicatewhich slots, at least in combination with some other information, e.g. asemi-statically configured slot offset. For DL, it will be often thatPDSCH starts in the same slot as the DCI message is received, in thiscase a simple slot length indicator would be sufficient. In UL, however,only fast terminals will be able to receive an UL grant (PDCCH) in a DCImessage in slot n, and to transmit PUSCH in slot n. Most terminals willonly support transmission in slot n+1. One possibility would be tosemi-statically configure an offset value k, indicating a reference slotlocation, so that PUSCH always starts in slot n+k given that DCI hasbeen received in slot n. Table 1 shows a table where the slot allocationcontains 3 bits. The first bit indicates that the assignment starts inslot n+n_(OS,1) or n+n_(OS,2), with n_(OS,1) and n_(OS,2)semi-statically configured offset values, which could e.g. be 0 and 1(typical values for DL), or 1 and 2 (typical values for UL). n is theslot the DCI has been received in. Thus, the location of the first slot(starting slot) as reference slot is indicated. The remaining two bitsindicate the number of aggregated slots, in this example they indicate 1to 4 aggregated slots, but in a more general case these four valuescould be different, e.g. semi-statically configured.

TABLE 1 The exemplary slot allocation consists of 3 bit. The first bitindicates the first slot and the remaining two bits the number ofaggregated slots. Number of Bit pattern First slot aggregated slot/s 000n + n_(OS, 1) 1 001 n + n_(OS, 1) 2 010 n + n_(OS, 1) 3 011 n +n_(OS, 1) 4 100 n + n_(OS, 2) 1 101 n + n_(OS, 2) 2 110 n + n_(OS, 2) 3111 n + n_(OS, 2) 4

If a fixed (semi-statically configured) start position of the datachannel (PDSCH and PUSCH) is too restrictive, a start/stop allocationsimilar to LTE resource allocation format 2 can be considered for theslot allocation. If non-contiguous slot aggregation is supported, abitmap is needed with a bit position for each slot that can bescheduled, e.g. [b0 b1 b2 b3] could refer to slots n+k+bi with n beingthe slot the DCI has been received in, and k being a fixed orsemi-statically configured offset number.

Symbol allocation is discussed in more detail below.

Table 2 shows an example how DL symbols are allocated to PDSCH.Depending on presence and form of a control channel region, a PDSCHstart position of 0 and 1 can imply that PDSCH shares an OFDM symbolwith PDCCH (assuming a control channel region ranging from 0 to 2 OFDMsymbols). PDSCH can extend either until the end of the slot (no ULopportunity at the end of the slot interval), or until symbols N_slot-4or N_slot-3. For the last two cases, an UL opportunity of 2 and 1symbols together with a guard time of 1 symbol has been considered.N_slot is the slot length and could e.g. be 7 or 14 symbols. To keep thenumber of bits to 3, the combination of start position 0 and endposition N_slot-4 has been omitted. In Table 2 start and stop positionare provided, start (or stop) and length indication would be analternative signaling.

TABLE 2 Symbol allocation for PDSCH Bit pattern PDSCH start symbol PDSCHstop symbol 000 0 N_slot-3 001 0 N_slot-1 010 1 N_slot-4 011 1 N_slot-3100 1 N_slot-1 101 2 N_slot-4 110 2 N_slot-3 111 2 N_slot-1

Table 3 shows a similar table for PUSCH symbol allocation. PUSCH caneither start in symbol 1 (no DL and DL control region in this slot, i.e.PUSCH is scheduled from a previous slot, but 1 empty symbol in thebeginning is needed for switching time and timing advance), or in symbol2, 3, and 4. The latter three cases assume a DL control region of 1 or 2symbols together with a guard time of 1 or 2 symbols. A longer guardperiod could for example be provided if DCI indicates PUSCH in the sameslot, and that the UE needs more processing time, while a guard periodof 1 symbol would be sufficient if PUSCH is sent in next slot orsubframe. If PUSCH is transmitted in the next slot or subframe the guardwould only need to cover UE switching time and timing advance. PUSCH caneither extend until the end of the slot or stop earlier (in this example1 symbol earlier to make space for a short PUCCH in the end, could alsobe 2 symbols or maybe even 1 or 2 symbols at the expense of anadditional signaling bit). It would also be possible to combine the slotallocation (Section 5.1.1) and the symbol allocation, since e.g. thecombination of PUSCH starting in a future slot together with PUSCHstarting at symbol 4 is maybe not needed (PUSCH start symbol 4 wouldgive a UE extra time to decode DCI if DCI is sent in same slot). InTable 3 start and stop position are provided, start (or stop) and lengthindication would be an alternative signaling.

TABLE 3 Symbol allocation for PUSCH Bit pattern PUSCH start symbol PUSCHstop symbol 000 1 N_slot-2 001 1 N_slot-1 010 2 N_slot-2 011 2 N_slot-1100 3 N_slot-2 101 3 N_slot-1 110 4 N_slot-2 111 4 N_slot-1

Extensions

Applying the same symbol allocation to all slots is maybe toorestrictive. For example, a DL slot aggregate PDSCH that is scheduled inslot n and starts in slot n at symbol 1 would have a hole at thebeginning of all subsequent slots. To increase flexibility, smallsignaling fields for some/all slots to indicate adjustments byrepresenting deviation indications may be provided in the downlinkcontrol information message. However, the adjustment signaling(deviation indication/s) may be positions limited to limit signalingoverhead.

FIGS. 13 and 14 show examples in which 4 slots are scheduled in anaggregate. In FIG. 13 without allowed adjustments, PDSCH would be mappedto symbols 1 to N_slot-1 in each slot, i.e. there is a hole in PDSCH ineach slot. Allowing an adjustment for the first slot, one could signalfor all slots PDSCH symbol allocation 0 to N_slot-1 (entry 001 in Table2) but then signal an exception/adjustment for the first slot (PDSCH infirst slot starts at symbol 1), as shown in FIG. 14. In this exampleN_slot=7 is assumed.

It should be noted that the exceptions/adjustments mentioned may beconsidered deviations from the allocation pattern for specific slots.

In particular, in FIG. 13, all slots use symbol allocation 1 to 6 (100in Table 2) for PDSCH and holes in PDSCH mapping occur. In FIG. 14,utilising corresponding deviation indication, all slots use symbolallocation 0 to 6 (001 in Table 2) for PDSCH and holes in PDSCH mappingcan be avoided. Adjustment signaling (deviation indication) is used forthe first slot.

Instead of explicit signaling of the adjustment for the first slot, animplicit rule can be applied instead. An example rule would be that thestart/stop symbol allocation is valid in all slots of the slot aggregateexcept the first slot, where the PDCCH symbol(s) that contained the DCIshall be excluded from the start/stop allocation. Alternatively, ifPDSCH start position/PDCCH stop position/control region stop position isindicated on the group common PDCCH this information can be used toadjust PDSCH start position in one or multiple slots of the slotaggregate (if PDCCH or control region stop position is signaled it isassumed PDSCH starts after PDCCH or control region).

A similar technique can be used to signal a PDSCH that stops early inthe last slot to provide an UL opportunity. In this case, the commonsymbol allocation would signal that PDSCH extends until the last symbolin each slot and adjustment signaling for the last slot would indicatethat PDSCH stops e.g. in symbol N_slot-2. Alternatively, if DL stopposition/UL start position is indicated on the group common PDCCH thisinformation can be used to adjust PDSCH stop position in one or multipleslots of the slot aggregate.

Adjustment signaling can also be used for PUSCH. For example, a PUSCHslot aggregate which scheduling DCI is at the beginning of the firstslot cannot start at symbol 0 in the first slot. Copying the same symbolallocation would again result in holes in PUSCH mapping. Again, thecommon symbol allocation could signal PUSCH is mapped to symbols 0 toN_slot-1 in all slots and adjustment signaling is used to modify thetime-domain resource allocation for the first slot.

Another possibility is to repeat the symbol allocation just for a subsetof the allocated slots. Symbol allocation for other slots needs then tobe provided by other means.

For even more flexibility, the symbol allocation can be provided foreach of the allocated slots in the same DCI. This results in largersignaling overhead, but since other parts of the DCI, such as thefrequency-domain resource allocation are not provided for each of theslots in the slot aggregate, the signaling is smaller than providingseparate DCI in each slot. Accordingly, the allocation pattern mayspecifically cover more than one slot with different or the samesubpatterns.

In the DCI message, it could further be assumed that in one example, thesame frequency allocation is used in all the allocated slots. This as itwould then be possible to have a one frequency allocation bit field inthe DCI message for all aggregated slots.

To introduce some frequency diversity, it could be possible to add ontop a frequency hopping scheme that is applicable per slot (potentiallyeven intra-slot). Frequency-domain resources could be providedseparately for each slot (or sub-group of slots within slot aggregate)or a rule can be used to derive frequency-domain resources for at leastone additional slot given frequency-domain resources for at least oneslot. The

It may generally be considered to provide a downlink control informationmessage specifying the time-domain resource allocation for slotaggregation such based on an allocation pattern for a single slot, whichis applied to other, in particular all, scheduled slots of the slotaggregate. This reduces overhead required for signaling the time-domainresource allocation in slot aggregation.

FIG. 15 schematically shows a terminal or wireless device 10, which maybe implemented as a UE (User Equipment). Terminal 10 comprisesprocessing circuitry (which may also be referred to as controlcircuitry) 20, which may comprise a controller connected to a memory.Any module of the terminal, e.g. a communicating module, or transmittingmodule or receiving module, may be implemented in and/or executable by,the processing circuitry 20, in particular as module in the controller.Terminal 10 also comprises radio circuitry 22 providing receiving andtransmitting or transceiving functionality (e.g., one or moretransmitters and/or receivers and/or transceivers), the radio circuitry22 being connected or connectable to the processing circuitry. Anantenna circuitry 24 of the terminal 10 is connected or connectable tothe radio circuitry 22 to collect or send and/or amplify signals. Radiocircuitry 22 and the processing circuitry 20 controlling it areconfigured for cellular communication with a network, e.g. a RAN asdescribed herein. Terminal 10 may generally be adapted to carry out anyof the methods of operating a terminal or UE disclosed herein; inparticular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processingcircuitry, and/or modules.

FIG. 16 schematically show a network node 100, which in particular maybe an eNB, or gNB or similar for NR. Network node 100 comprisesprocessing circuitry (which may also be referred to as controlcircuitry) 120, which may comprise a controller connected to a memory.Any module, e.g. transmitting module and/or receiving module and/orconfiguring module of the network node 100 may be implemented in and/orexecutable by the processing circuitry 120. The processing circuitry 120is connected to control radio circuitry 122 of the radio node 100, whichprovides receiver and transmitter and/or transceiver functionality(e.g., comprising one or more transmitters and/or receivers and/ortransceivers). An antenna circuitry 124 may be connected or connectableto radio circuitry 122 for signal reception or transmittance and/oramplification. The network node 100 may be adapted to carry out any ofthe methods for operating a network node disclosed herein; inparticular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processingcircuitry, and/or modules. The antenna 124 circuitry may be connected toand/or comprise an antenna array. The network node 100, respectively itscircuitry, may be adapted to transmit configuration data and/or toconfigure a terminal as described herein.

FIG. 17 shows a diagram for an exemplary method of operating a userequipment, which may be any of the user equipments described herein. Themethod comprises an action TS10 of communicating as disclosed herein.

FIG. 18 shows a schematic of an exemplary user equipment. The userequipment may comprise a communicating module TM10 for performing actionTS10.

FIG. 19 shows a diagram for an exemplary method of operating a networknode, which may be any of the network nodes described herein, inparticular a gNB or eNB. The method comprises an action NS10 oftransmitting a downlink control information message as disclosed herein.

FIG. 20 shows a schematic of an exemplary network node. The network nodemay comprise a transmitting module NM10 for performing action NS10.

An uplink control channel is described in the following. NR will supportdifferent formats of the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). PUCCHcarries Uplink Control Information (UCI) comprising acknowledgementsignaling like HARQ feedback (ACK/NACK), and/or Channel QualityInformation (CQI), and/or Scheduling Request (SR).

An indication generally may explicitly and/or implicitly indicate theinformation it represents and/or indicates. Implicit indication may forexample be based on position and/or resource used for transmission.Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrisation withone or more parameters, and/or one or more index or indices, and/or oneor more bit patterns representing the information. Acknowledgementsignaling may comprise one or more bits (e.g., for ACK/NACK) for anacknowledgement signaling process, and/or comprise additionalinformation, e.g. indicating that a data element was not received and/orscheduled.

Signaling may generally comprise one or more symbols and/or signalsand/or messages. A signal may comprise one or more bits. An indicationmay represent signaling, and/or be implemented as a signal, or as aplurality of signals. One or more signals may be included in and/orrepresented by a message. Signaling, in particular acknowledgementsignaling, may comprise a plurality of signals and/or messages, whichmay be transmitted on different carriers and/or be associated todifferent acknowledgement signaling processes, e.g. representing and/orpertaining to one or more such processes. An indication, may comprisesignaling and/or a plurality of signals and/or messages, which may betransmitted on different carriers and/or be associated to differentacknowledgement signaling processes, e.g. representing and/or pertainingto one or more such processes. A message may represent a block of datajointly encoded and/or modulated, and/or information (e.g., one or moreindications) transmitted together. A message may be addressed to aspecific receiver, e.g. a user equipment. It may be considered that amessage has a format, which may be defined according to a standard, inparticular according to a 3GPP standard like NR.

A radio node may generally be considered a device or node adapted forwireless and/or radio (and/or microwave) frequency communication, and/orfor communication utilising an air interface, e.g. according to acommunication standard.

A radio node may be a network node, or a user equipment or terminal. Anetwork node may be any radio node of a wireless communication network,e.g. a base station and/or gNodeB (gNB) and/or relay node and/ormicro/nano/pico/femto node and/or other node, in particular for a RAN asdescribed herein.

The terms wireless device, user equipment (UE) and terminal may beconsidered to be interchangeable in the context of this disclosure. Awireless device, user equipment or terminal may represent and end devicefor communication utilising the wireless communication network, and/orbe implemented as a user equipment according to a standard. Examples ofuser equipments may comprise a phone like a smartphone, a personalcommunication device, a mobile phone or terminal, a computer, inparticular laptop, a sensor or machine with radio capability (and/oradapted for the air interface), in particular for MTC(Machine-Type-Communication, sometimes also referred to M2M,Machine-To-Machine), or a vehicle adapted for wireless communication. Auser equipment or terminal may be mobile or stationary.

A radio node may generally comprise processing circuitry and/or radiocircuitry. Circuitry may comprise integrated circuitry. Processingcircuitry may comprise one or more processors and/or controllers (e.g.,microcontrollers), and/or ASICs (Application Specific IntegratedCircuitry) and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array), or similar. Itmay be considered that processing circuitry comprises, and/or is(operatively) connected or connectable to one or more memories or memoryarrangements. A memory arrangement may comprise one or more memories. Amemory may be adapted to store digital information. Examples formemories comprise volatile and non-volatile memory, and/or Random AccessMemory (RAM), and/or Read-Only-Memory (ROM), and/or magnetic and/oroptical memory, and/or flash memory, and/or hard disk memory, and/orEPROM or EEPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM or Electrically ErasableProgrammable ROM). Radio circuitry may comprise one or more transmittersand/or receivers and/or transceivers (a transceiver may operate or beoperable as transmitter and receiver), and/or may comprise one or moreamplifiers and/or oscillators and/or filters, and/or may comprise,and/or be connected or connectable to antenna circuitry and/or one ormore antennas.

Any one or all of the modules disclosed herein may be implemented insoftware and/or firmware and/or hardware. Different modules may beassociated to different components of a radio node, e.g. differentcircuitries or different parts of a circuitry. It may be considered thata module is distributed over different components and/or circuitries.

A radio access network may be a wireless communication network, and/or aRadio Access Network (RAN) in particular according to a communicationstandard. A communication standard may in particular a standardaccording to 3GPP and/or 5G, e.g. according to NR or LTE, in particularLTE Evolution.

There is generally considered a program product comprising instructionsadapted for causing processing and/or control circuitry to carry outand/or control any method described herein, in particular when executedon the processing and/or control circuitry. Also, there is considered acarrier medium arrangement carrying and/or storing a program product asdescribed herein.

A carrier medium arrangement may comprise one or more carrier media.Generally, a carrier medium may be accessible and/or readable and/orreceivable by processing or control circuitry. Storing data and/or aprogram product and/or code may be seen as part of carrying data and/ora program product and/or code. A carrier medium generally may comprise aguiding/transporting medium and/or a storage medium. Aguiding/transporting medium may be adapted to carry and/or carry and/orstore signals, in particular electromagnetic signals and/or electricalsignals and/or magnetic signals and/or optical signals. A carriermedium, in particular a guiding/transporting medium, may be adapted toguide such signals to carry them. A carrier medium, in particular aguiding/transporting medium, may comprise the electromagnetic field,e.g. radio waves or microwaves, and/or optically transmissive material,e.g. glass fiber, and/or cable. A storage medium may comprise at leastone of a memory, which may be volatile or non-volatile, a buffer, acache, an optical disc, magnetic memory, flash memory, etc.

A wireless communication network may be and/or comprise a Radio AccessNetwork (RAN), which may be and/or comprise any kind of cellular and/orwireless radio network, which may be connected or connectable to a corenetwork. The approaches described herein are particularly suitable for a5G network, e.g. LTE Evolution and/or NR (New Radio), respectivelysuccessors thereof. A RAN may comprise one or more network nodes. Anetwork node may in particular be a radio node adapted for radio and/orwireless and/or cellular communication with one or more terminals. Aterminal may be any device adapted for radio and/or wireless and/orcellular communication with or within a RAN, e.g. a user equipment (UE)or mobile phone or smartphone or computing device or vehicularcommunication device or device for machine-type-communication (MTC),etc. A terminal may be mobile, or in some cases stationary.

Transmitting in downlink may pertain to transmission from the network ornetwork node to the terminal. Transmitting in uplink may pertain totransmission from the terminal to the network or network node.

Signaling may generally comprise one or more signals and/or one or moresymbols. Reference signaling may comprise one or more reference signalsor symbols.

A resource element may generally describe the smallest individuallyusable and/or encodable and/or decodable and/or modulatable and/ordemodulatable time-frequency resource, and/or may describe atime-frequency resource covering a symbol time length in time and asubcarrier in frequency. A signal may be allocatable and/or allocated toa resource element. A subcarrier may be a subband of a carrier, e.g. asdefined by a standard. A carrier may define a frequency and/or frequencyband for transmission and/or reception. In some variants, a signal(jointly encoded/modulated) may cover more than one resource elements. Aresource element may generally be as defined by a correspondingstandard, e.g. NR or LTE.

A resource generally may represent a time-frequency resource, on whichsignaling according to a specific format may be transmitted and/or beintended for transmission, and/or a code resource and/or a powerresource. The format may comprise one or more substructures, which maybe considered to represent a corresponding sub-resource (as they wouldbe transmitted in a part of the resource).

Control information or a control information message or correspondingsignaling may be transmitted on a control channel, e.g. a physicalcontrol channel, which may be a downlink channel or uplink channel. Forexample, downlink control information, e.g. a corresponding message, maybe signaled by a network node on PDCCH (Physical Downlink ControlChannel) and/or a PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and/or aHARQ-specific channel. Uplink control information, e.g. acknowledgementsignaling, may be transmitted by a terminal on a PUCCH (Physical UplinkControl Channel) and/or PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) and/or aHARQ-specific channel. Multiple channels may apply formulti-component/multi-carrier indication or signaling.

Configuring a radio node, in particular a terminal or user equipment,may refer to the radio node being adapted or caused or set to operateaccording to the configuration. Configuring may be done by anotherdevice, e.g., a network node (for example, a radio node of the networklike a base station or eNodeB) or network, in which case it may comprisetransmitting configuration data to the radio node to be configured. Suchconfiguration data may represent the configuration to be configuredand/or comprise one or more instruction pertaining to a configuration,e.g., regarding one or more transmission timing structures and/orscheduled first signaling (e.g., data transmission) and/or the startingsymbol. A radio node may configure itself, e.g., based on configurationdata received from a network or network node. A network node mayutilise, and/or be adapted to utilise, its circuitry/ies forconfiguring.

Generally, configuring may include determining configuration datarepresenting the configuration and providing it to one or more othernodes (parallel and/or sequentially), which may transmit it further tothe radio node (or another node, which may be repeated until it reachesthe wireless device). Alternatively, or additionally, configuring aradio node, e.g., by a network node or other device, may includereceiving configuration data and/or data pertaining to configurationdata, e.g., from another node like a network node, which may be ahigher-level node of the network, and/or transmitting receivedconfiguration data to the radio node. Accordingly, determining aconfiguration and transmitting the configuration data to the radio nodemay be performed by different network nodes or entities, which may beable to communicate via a suitable interface, e.g., an X2 interface inthe case of LTE or a corresponding interface for NR. Configuring aterminal may comprise scheduling downlink and/or uplink transmissionsfor the terminal, e.g. downlink data and/or downlink control signalingand/or DCI and/or uplink signaling, in particular acknowledgementsignaling, and/or configuring resources and/or a resource pool therefor.

Control signaling may be considered signaling of, and/or comprising,control information. Control information may be provided in a controlinformation message. Control information may comprise in particularscheduling information like a grant (of uplink and/or downlink and/orsidelink resource/s) and/or a slot allocation indication and/or symbolallocation indication and/or power control information and/or linkadaptation information and/or precoding information, e.g. for thedownlink or downlink control information. In other cases, controlinformation may comprise acknowledgement signaling (respectively,associated acknowledgement information), and in some variants inaddition scheduling requesting information and/or measurement-relatedinformation, e.g. for the uplink or uplink control information.

A carrier may generally represent a frequency range or band. It may beconsidered that a carrier comprises a plurality of subcarriers. Acarrier may have assigned to it a central frequency or center frequencyinterval, e.g. represented by one or more subcarriers (to eachsubcarrier there may be generally assigned a frequency bandwidth orinterval). Different carriers may be non-overlapping, and/or may beneighboring in frequency space.

It should be noted that the term “radio” in this disclosure may beconsidered to pertain to wireless communication in general, and may alsoinclude wireless communication utilising microwave frequencies.

A radio node, in particular a network node or a terminal, may generallybe any device adapted for transmitting and/or receiving radio and/orwireless signals and/or data, in particular communication data, inparticular on at least one carrier. The at least one carrier maycomprise a carrier accessed based on a LBT procedure (which may becalled LBT carrier), e.g., an unlicensed carrier. It may be consideredthat the carrier is part of a carrier aggregate.

Receiving or transmitting on a cell or carrier may refer to receiving ortransmitting utilizing a frequency (band) or spectrum associated to thecell or carrier. A cell may generally comprise and/or be defined by orfor one or more carriers, in particular at least one carrier for ULcommunication/transmission (called UL carrier) and at least one carrierfor DL communication/transmission (called DL carrier). It may beconsidered that a cell comprises different numbers of UL carriers and DLcarriers. Alternatively, or additionally, a cell may comprise at leastone carrier for UL communication/transmission and DLcommunication/transmission, e.g., in TDD-based approaches.

A channel may generally be a logical, transport or physical channel. Achannel may comprise and/or be arranged on one or more carriers, inparticular a plurality of subcarriers.

In general, a symbol may represent and/or be associated to a symbol timelength, which may be dependent on the carrier and/or subcarrier spacingand/or numerology of the associated carrier. Accordingly, a symbol maybe considered to indicate a time interval having a symbol time length inrelation to frequency domain.

A sidelink may generally represent a communication channel (or channelstructure) between two UEs and/or terminals, in which data istransmitted between the participants (UEs and/or terminals) via thecommunication channel, e.g. directly and/or without being relayed via anetwork node. A sidelink may be established only and/or directly via airinterface/s of the participant, which may be directly linked via thesidelink communication channel. In some variants, sidelink communicationmay be performed without interaction by a network node, e.g. on fixedlydefined resources and/or on resources negotiated between theparticipants. Alternatively, or additionally, it may be considered thata network node provides some control functionality, e.g. by configuringresources, in particular one or more resource pool/s, for sidelinkcommunication, and/or monitoring a sidelink, e.g. for charging purposes.

Sidelink communication may also be referred to as device-to-device (D2D)communication, and/or in some cases as ProSe (Proximity Services)communication, e.g. in the context of LTE. A sidelink may be implementedin the context of V2x communication (Vehicular communication), e.g. V2V(Vehicle-to-Vehicle), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) and/or V2P(Vehicle-to-Person). Any device adapted for sidelink communication maybe considered a user equipment or terminal.

A sidelink communication channel (or structure) may comprise one or more(e.g., physical or logical) channels, e.g. a PSCCH (Physical SidelinkControl CHannel, which may for example carry control information like anacknowledgement position indication, and/or a PSSCH (Physical SidelinkShared CHannel, which for example may carry data and/or acknowledgementsignaling). It may be considered that a sidelink communication channel(or structure) pertains to and/or used one or more carrier/s and/orfrequency range/s associated to, and/or being used by, cellularcommunication, e.g. according to a specific license and/or standard.Participants may share a (physical) channel and/or resources, inparticular in frequency space and/or related to a frequency resourcelike a carrier) of a sidelink, such that two or more participantstransmit thereon, e.g. simultaneously, and/or time-shifted, and/or theremay be associated specific channels and/or resources to specificparticipants, so that for example only one participant transmits on aspecific channel or on a specific resource or specific resources, e.g.,in frequency space and/or related to one or more carriers orsubcarriers.

A sidelink may comply with, and/or be implemented according to, aspecific standard, e.g. a LTE-based standard and/or NR. A sidelink mayutilise TDD (Time Division Duplex) and/or FDD (Frequency DivisionDuplex) technology, e.g. as configured by a network node, and/orpreconfigured and/or negotiated between the participants. A userequipment may be considered to be adapted for sidelink communication ifit, and/or its radio circuitry and/or processing circuitry, is adaptedfor utilising a sidelink, e.g. on one or more frequency ranges and/orcarriers and/or in one or more formats, in particular according to aspecific standard. It may be generally considered that a Radio AccessNetwork is defined by two participants of a sidelink communication.Alternatively, or additionally, a Radio Access Network may berepresented, and/or defined with, and/or be related to a network nodeand/or communication with such a node.

Communication or communicating may generally comprise transmittingand/or receiving signaling. Signaling may be associated to a specificchannel. Communication on a sidelink (or sidelink signaling) maycomprise utilising the sidelink for communication (respectively, forsignaling). Sidelink transmission and/or transmitting on a sidelink maybe considered to comprise transmission utilising the sidelink, e.g.associated resources and/or transmission formats and/or circuitry and/orthe air interface. Sidelink reception and/or receiving on a sidelink maybe considered to comprise reception utilising the sidelink, e.g.associated resources and/or transmission formats and/or circuitry and/orthe air interface. Sidelink control information (e.g., SCI) maygenerally be considered to comprise control information transmittedutilising a sidelink. Acknowledgement signaling, as well as signaling ofan acknowledgement position indication may be considered examples ofSCI, albeit in different directions of communication betweenparticipants. In particular, acknowledgement signaling may be consideredto be in response to other control signaling (e.g., configuring controlsignaling), and thus be referred to as response control signaling.Configuring control signaling generally may configure a UE, e.g.schedule resources and/or a resource pool. Signaling of anacknowledgment position indication may be considered an example ofconfiguring control signaling.

A transmission timing structure may have a duration (length in time)determined based on the durations of their symbols, possibly in additionto cyclic prefix/es used. The symbols of a transmission timing structuremay have the same duration, or may in some variants have differentduration. A slot may be considered an example of a transmission timingstructure, and the term slot may be considered to be interchangeablewith the term transmission timing structure in the context of thisdisclosure. A transmission timing structure or slot may comprise apredetermined number of symbols, e.g. 7 or 14. A mini-slot may comprisea number of symbols smaller than the number of symbols of a slot. Atransmission timing structure may cover a time interval of a specificlength, which may be dependent on symbol time length and/or cyclicprefix used. A transmission timing structure may pertain to and/or covera specific time interval in a time stream, e.g. synchronized forcommunication. It should be noted that a subframe may be considered anexample of a slot or transmission timing structure with a fixed durationof 1 ms.

In this disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation,specific details are set forth (such as particular network functions,processes and signaling steps) in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the technique presented herein. It will be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present concepts and aspects may bepracticed in other variants and variants that depart from these specificdetails.

For example, the concepts and variants are partially described in thecontext of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) or NextRadio mobile or wireless communications technologies; however, this doesnot rule out the use of the present concepts and aspects in connectionwith additional or alternative mobile communication technologies such asthe Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). While the followingvariants will partially be described with respect to certain TechnicalSpecifications (TSs) of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP),it will be appreciated that the present concepts and aspects could alsobe realized in connection with different Performance Management (PM)specifications.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the services,functions and steps explained herein may be implemented using softwarefunctioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, or using anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or generalpurpose computer. It will also be appreciated that while the variantsdescribed herein are elucidated in the context of methods and devices,the concepts and aspects presented herein may also be embodied in aprogram product as well as in a system comprising control circuitry,e.g. a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor, whereinthe memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products thatexecute the services, functions and steps disclosed herein.

It is believed that the advantages of the aspects and variants presentedherein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and itwill be apparent that various changes may be made in the form,constructions and arrangement of the exemplary aspects thereof withoutdeparting from the scope of the concepts and aspects described herein orwithout sacrificing all of its advantageous effects. The aspectspresented herein can be varied in many ways.

Some useful abbreviations comprise

Abbreviation Explanation DCI Downlink Control Information PDCCH PhysicalDownlink Control Channel PDSCH Physical Shared Data Channel PUCCHPhysical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel RRCRadio Resource Control TDD Time Division Duplex

1. A method of operating a network node in a Radio Access Network, themethod comprising: transmitting a downlink control information message,the downlink control information message comprising a slot allocationindication and a symbol allocation indication; the slot allocationindication indicating a slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slotsbeing allocated for communication to at least one user equipment, eachslot comprising a plurality of symbols; and the symbol allocationindication indicating allocation of symbols to at least one channelaccording to an allocation pattern for at least two of the plurality ofslots.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the slot allocationindication comprises at least one of a bit pattern indicating the numberof slots being aggregated and a slot location indication, the slotlocation indication indicating the location of a reference slot of theslot aggregation.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the symbolallocation indication comprises a bit pattern, the bit patternindicating at least one of: the allocation pattern ; and the at leastone channel the symbols are allocated to.
 4. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the allocation pattern indicates at least one from thegroup consisting of: a starting symbol ; and an ending symbol ; and anumber of symbols allocated to a specific channel.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the allocation pattern indicates a guardperiod between symbols of the pattern allocated to a downlink channeland symbols of the pattern allocated to an uplink channel.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the downlink control information messagecomprises at least one deviation indication, a deviation indicationindicating a deviation from the pattern for at least one slot.
 7. Anetwork node for a Radio Access Network, the network node beingconfigured to transmit a downlink control information message, thedownlink control information message comprising: a slot allocationindication and a symbol allocation indication; the slot allocationindication indicating a slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slotsbeing allocated for communication to at least one user equipment, eachslot comprising a plurality of symbols; and the symbol allocationindication indicating allocation of symbols to at least one channelaccording to an allocation pattern for at least two of the plurality ofslots.
 8. The network node according to claim 7, wherein the slotallocation indication comprises at least one of a bit pattern indicatingthe number of slots being aggregated and a slot location indication, theslot location indication indicating the location of a reference slot ofthe slot aggregation.
 9. The network node according to claim 7, whereinthe symbol allocation indication comprises a bit pattern, the bitpattern indicating at least one of: the allocation pattern; and the atleast one channel the symbols are allocated to.
 10. The network nodeaccording to claim 7, wherein the allocation pattern indicates at leastone from the group consisting of: a starting symbol; and an endingsymbol; and a number of symbols allocated to a specific channel.
 11. Thenetwork node according to claim 7, wherein the allocation patternindicates a guard period between symbols of the pattern allocated to adownlink channel and symbols of the pattern allocated to an uplinkchannel.
 12. The network node according to claim 7, wherein the downlinkcontrol information message comprises at least one deviation indication,a deviation indication indicating a deviation from the pattern for atleast one slot.
 13. A method of operating a user equipment in a RadioAccess Network, the method comprising: communicating utilizing a slotaggregation based on a received downlink control information message,the downlink control information message comprising a slot allocationindication and a symbol allocation indication; the slot allocationindication indicating a slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slotsbeing allocated for communication to the user equipment, each slotcomprising a plurality of symbols; and the symbol allocation indicationindicating allocation of symbols to at least one channel according to anallocation pattern for at least two of the plurality of slots.
 14. Themethod according to claim 13, wherein the slot allocation indicationcomprises at least one of a bit pattern indicating the number of slotsbeing aggregated and a slot location indication, the slot locationindication indicating the location of a reference slot of the slotaggregation.
 15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the symbolallocation indication comprises a bit pattern, the bit patternindicating at least one of: the allocation pattern; and the at least onechannel the symbols are allocated to.
 16. The method according to claim13, wherein the allocation pattern indicates at least one from the groupconsisting of: a starting symbol; and an ending symbol; and a number ofsymbols allocated to a specific channel.
 17. The method according toclaim 13, wherein the allocation pattern indicates a guard periodbetween symbols of the pattern allocated to a downlink channel andsymbols of the pattern allocated to an uplink channel.
 18. The methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the downlink control information messagecomprises at least one deviation indication, a deviation indicationindicating a deviation from the pattern for at least one slot.
 19. Auser equipment for a Radio Access Network, the user equipment beingconfigured to communicate utilizing a slot aggregation based on areceived downlink control information message, the downlink controlinformation message comprising a slot allocation indication and a symbolallocation indication; the slot allocation indication indicating a slotaggregation comprising a plurality of slots being allocated forcommunication to the user equipment, each slot comprising a plurality ofsymbols; and the symbol allocation indication indicating allocation ofsymbols to at least one channel according to an allocation pattern forat least two of the plurality of slots.
 20. A computer storage mediumstoring a computer program comprising instructions that when executedcause processing circuitry to at least of control and perform a methodfor operating a network node in a Radio Access Network, the methodcomprising: transmitting a downlink control information message, thedownlink control information message comprising a slot allocationindication and a symbol allocation indication; the slot allocationindication indicating a slot aggregation comprising a plurality of slotsbeing allocated for communication to at least one user equipment, eachslot comprising a plurality of symbols; and the symbol allocationindication indicating allocation of symbols to at least one channelaccording to an allocation pattern for at least two of the plurality ofslots.